Scenes From a Friendship
by cogito-ergo-amo
Summary: Started out with the intention of focusing on Mag, Pavi and their relationship, but the other characters seem to be getting more and more airtime. It's getting progressively darker and more adult as it progresses. Which is to be expected from Repo!
1. Chapter 1

Mag bit her bottom lip and turned her gaze to the window of the limousine. She could discern the glow of the streetlamps rhythmically lightening then darkening where she sat with her best friend.

"Mag, are you shaking?" Marni gripped her hand a little tighter "You do know that you've nothing to be nervous about, right?"

"Really? So we're not actually meeting one of the most powerful men in the world, or singing in front of hundreds of people I don't know, in a completely unfamiliar environment? Because I'm sure you could understand why I might be a little on the anxious side if that were the case."

Marni laughed "But it's my engagement party! If I want to sing a duet with my best friend, it's up to all of the guests to indulge me, dammit! And he's not just 'one of the most powerful men in the world' to me, nor should he be to you. He's my fiancé and he needs to meet my maid of honour at some point. He's going to absolutely adore you. Even if he doesn't, he's going to have to do a damn good job of faking it. You were in my life before him, after all."

Mag laughed too this time, relaxing slightly. "I suppose you _were_ mine first. Although I assume that tonight might not be the most appropriate time to bring that up with him..."

"I'm not entirely sure that he'd be averse to the thought of you and I together. But perhaps we should surprise him with that little fact from the past another time."

"Wipe that smirk off your face, madam."

"Fine, I'll behave as long as you do."

"Deal." Mag lifted Marni's hand and kissed it gently "I couldn't be happier for you right now you know? You've never been so beautiful and I can't wait to meet the person who makes you feel this way."

"Oh Mag, thank you." Marni sounded choked up, and cleared her throat before continuing "You need to knock that off though, we're almost there and it took over an hour to get my make-up right. I'm not going to mess it up by crying before we've even arrived."

Rotti Largo stood at the end of the red carpet leading into the marble-decked entrance to the GeneCo ballroom, his three offspring fidgeting by his side. Through the front doors they could see the flashing of cameras as guests arrived to be greeted by Rotti then shown through to the prosecco reception.

"I want you all on your best behaviour tonight. I'll have a gentern take Carmela shortly after Marni arrives, but Pavi I want you in bed by ten and Luigi there is to be absolutely no drinking, do you understand?"

"Aww, c'mon Pop!"

"You heard me. I know exactly how far above the law you believe you are, young man, but in this building, I _am_ the law and so help me, you're not too old for a spanking."

Luigi scowled, prompting a giggle from his sister, who tugged at his trouser leg and gestured to be picked up. Rolling his eyes, Luigi obliged. It hadn't taken long for him to learn how quickly Carmela's tantrums could escalate if he tried to ignore her, so he grudgingly accepted the role of ersatz babysitter in accordance with her two-year-old whims. "I don't understand why we all gotta be here, we see Marni all the fuckin' time since she moved in and why does she care whether or not we get to know her friends?"

"Luigi, mind your language! And Marni is family now, what is important to her is important to me, so I would be grateful if you could show a little courtesy to the people gathered here tonight."

"Daddy" Pavi grabbed his father's hand to get his attention "do I look okay?"

Rotti brushed his son's hand out of the way "you look fine, Paviche, but you're too old to be calling me 'daddy'. It makes you sound like a little girl. Are you a little girl?"

Pavi took a step back, obviously smarting at the comment. "No...father."

"That's better."

A gentern hurried over and whispered something into Rotti's ear. He smiled and strode over to the grand doorway as Marni and Mag entered. He embraced his fiancée warmly before beckoning his children over. "Mag, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, I look forward to getting to know you properly and especially to hearing you open tonight's proceedings with your duet. Marni has played me some recordings of your performances and you have quite a gift. Which piece did you decide on in the end? Did you opt for the Flower Duet?" Mag nodded. "Marvellous. In about twenty minutes I will be giving the welcome speech, after which you two are up. In the meantime, let me introduce you to my children. Luigi, my eldest...Luigi, where are your manners?"

Mag heard the young man in front of her sigh in exasperation as he wrestled with his squirming sister his squirming sister. "I only got two fuckin' hands, dad, I can't hold onto this brat and be shakin' hands at the same ti-" Mag didn't need to see Rotti's expression to recognise the sound of somebody changing tone under the glower of a wrathful parent "erm, I mean, sorry to be rude, miss, it's a pleasure, but my sister here is a little clingy and you don't wanna hear the racket she'll make if I try to put her down before bedtime. Carmela, you gonna say hi?" The toddler regarded Mag quizzically for a few seconds, before blowing a raspberry and nuzzling her face into Luigi's shirt. "Dammit kid, you got drool on me! Ugh, I'm gonna have to go change and get rid of this barf machine, but it was good to meet ya. You wanna talk to my other sister?"

"Hey!" a young boy's protestation interrupted Luigi, who was already walking away with a mocking chuckle. "I'm not a girl" Pavi muttered, mostly to himself. Mag smiled at him, gently.

"You don't sound like a girl. You must be Paviche, Marni has told me about you, it seems like you and she are quite good friends."

Pavi nodded eagerly as he replied "she's told me about you too, she played me some of your songs, you sound lovely." He shuffled a little uncomfortably "I'm, um, I'm really looking forward to hearing you sing tonight. Luigi calls me names when I listen to classical music, but he has to behave this evening, so he can't. "

"I hope that I can live up to the expectation! And you shouldn't take such nonsense from your brother. In future, you must tell Marni if he's being mean to you. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to have a word with your father about his behaviour."

"She certainly would!" Marni interjected, rejoining the conversation. "Pavi, I'm afraid I have to steal Mag away for a final run through of our piece before we go onstage, but we will have plenty of time to catch up after the performance." She gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. "Enjoy yourself and don't be scared to stand up to Luigi. You know you've always got us on your side."

Blushing and grinning from ear to ear, Pavi scampered off to the ballroom.

"Mag, may I speak with you for a moment? I noticed that Marni is being quite the social butterfly this evening, I wanted to make sure you're not feeling uncomfortable or left out or-"

Mag smiled and placed a hand on his arm "I'm fine, really, Marni gave me a tour when we arrived, so I'm not going to get lost or injured or desperately frightened if she isn't by my side all night. I can find the bar and the ladies' room, between which I'm quite content."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to patronise you." Rotti Largo was not a man who showed humility often, but he sounded sincere.

"You haven't, don't worry, I just stopped trying to be discreet about making people aware of my limitations, or the lack thereof, very early in life. The only thing I might have struggled to do alone tonight is dance to this rather charming waltz I can hear which, if I'm not mistaken, is what a number of your other guests are doing. Would you consider being so kind as to oblige me?" She held out a hand, which Rotti gladly took and gently led her to the dancefloor. They fell easily into the rhythm of the dance, resuming their conversation. "How are you enjoying your party so far?"

"It has been pleasant enough, certainly, although it's difficult to fully relax in the presence of employees and stakeholders. Tonight was never meant for me though, it's all for her. She is having the time of her life, which is what matters to me. But I also know what really matters to her and with that in mind, I have a proposition for you. I have been thinking about this for some time, but it was meeting you tonight that really made my mind up. You've been blind since birth, is that correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Would you like to be able to look at your best friend on her wedding day? To see the world as the rest of us do?"

"Mr Largo, I'm not sure what to say to-"

"Please, call me Rotti, there is no need for formalities amongst friends."

"Well, Rotti, of course I've thought about it and wondered how life could be, but there's no way I would be able to afford the necessary surgery. Without meaning any disrespect to you or your business, I don't wish to find myself in debt."

"What if I were to offer you new eyes with no financial implications whatsoever for you?"

"Are you serious?"

"You have a gift, a talent, something beautiful and rare. This whole room was silent, two hundred people enraptured, by your performance this evening. For those few minutes, you took them away from here, out of themselves. There is misery all around us, but you have the potential to bring so much joy. I want to help you give that to more people, to the world. I hope I'm not overstepping a mark to say that Marni has told me that you've dreamt of it for years but never believed that it was within your reach. I can make it happen, Mag, if you'll let me. Come and work with me, I will give you new eyes and in return you will be the voice of GeneCo. You'd have your own penthouse in GeneCo towers, you'd travel the world to perform and share your gift, you would want for nothing."

"My goodness. That's incredibly generous, thank you. May I take some time to consider it? I don't wish to seem ungrateful by not immediately leaping at the offer but what you are proposing is huge, it would change everything for me, change who I am. I need to think about this."

"Of course, I would be surprised if you didn't need to reflect on this somewhat. It's not a time limited offer so feel free to take as long as you need. But I believe this could be a truly rewarding partnership, for both of us. Let me know your decision and enjoy the rest of the night." The song moved on as they headed back to Mag's seat, Rotti excusing himself to schmooze with the rest of his guests.

Mag flinched slightly at the hand placed indelicately on her left arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Mag, I, um, I didn't mean to scare you." The nervous apology came in a young boy's voice with a slight Italian lilt. The middle Largo child.

"Pavi? It's Pavi, isn't it?"

"Yes. I'm sorry if I scared you. I've never met anybody who couldn't see me before, I don't know how I'm supposed to say hello."

Mag gave him a gentle smile "usually, just saying hello will do the trick, there's nothing wrong with my ears. And yes, you startled me, just as I'm sure that it would make you jump if I sneaked up behind you and tapped you on the shoulder. But I know you meant no harm, most people aren't sure of how to approach me at first. Are you enjoying the party?"

His face lit up "I love daddy's parties, although I'm not allowed to go to many of them. There's something special about these nights. Everybody looks so pretty and so happy. And I really like the music, especially tonight. I heard some of the songs that Marni gave to daddy before tonight, I really liked them, but you sounded even more beautiful in person. I mean, Marni sounded lovely too and I like it when she sings to me at night sometimes, but your voice was even more special. Oh, but please don't tell her that I said that!"

Mag could feel herself blushing as she laughed at his hurried addendum. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. But thank you, Pavi, it's really lovely of you to say so."

"It's true, I mean it. I hope I get to hear you sing more one day. I think you should be famous, everybody was so happy when they were listening to you. I think you could make more people happy too."

She smiled "I would like that, very much. It's something I've thought about for a long time, but I don't know if I ever could. Maybe one day."

Mag heard chair legs scraping as he pushed back from the table "I should go, I promised that I would be in bed ten minutes from now. But thank you for singing so beautifully, it was lovely to meet you."

"You too Pavi, you too."


	2. Chapter 2

Mag smiled to herself as she noticed the figure moving through the back of the auditorium about halfway through her warmup. She couldn't make out his face with the lights shining in her eyes but she could tell from the silhouette that it was Pavi. Mag kept an eye on him as she sang through her aria, her vocal ability barely challenged by the piece she had been given. There was little that the coach Rotti had insisted on employing could teach her, but it seemed unwise to argue. If nothing else, the lessons broke the monotony of most of her days. She would give herself a proper vocal workout later, when she had the privacy of an empty recital room.

In general she didn't see much of the other Largo kids, a host of Genterns and nannies took responsibility for the parenting duties. Even when encountered in passing, she regarded them with a disinterest that had always seemed to be mutual. Still, she had picked up on aspects of their relationships from Marni's anecdotes and her own observations, even before Pavi had started to spend much time with her.

With Luigi old enough to take on occasional office duties whilst shadowing Rotti at work and Carmela, barely toddling, the apple of her father's eye, it seemed that Pavi had fallen into a stereotypical "middle child" role. Although no less spoilt, he was the by far the quietest and most thoughtful of the three, preferring Mag's company or that of the Genterns to his father and siblings.

As Mag was gathering her vocal scores and preparing to leave, Pavi crept up to the stage, a slight smile on his face, large blue eyes glittering under the lights. She noticed the single red rose in his hand, extended nervously towards her.

"Is...is that for me?" said Mag. Pavi nodded.

"It's beautiful" a slight blush rose in his cheeks "like you." Taken aback, Mag smiled as she accepted the flower from him.

"Thank you, that's very kind" she rotated the stem between her thumb and forefinger, taking in the depth of the colour and the perfectly spread petals. "How did you enjoy the rehearsal? I've not met many children who listen to opera through choice!" Pavi shuffled nervously.

"I, um, I like lots of music, I like some of papa's old music, but lots of new stuff too. Not like Luigi, though, his music is loud and angry, I can't heard the words most of the time, it gives me a headache if I listen to more than a few songs. I just like to hear you sing." He shrugged "everything sounds pretty when you do it."

Mag laughed good-naturedly and blushed. Since Rotti had "discovered" her she had been inundated with praise, adoration, messages sent by fans from the flattering to the downright creepy but nothing had sounded quite so heartfelt as this one compliment from a child. "What a lovely thing to say, thank you, Paviche." She leaned down and kissed him softly on the cheek "you know you're very welcome to come and listen to me practice any time, it's difficult to be sure of how well I'm doing without an audience." Pavi failed to suppress a delighted grin as his cheeks darkened to near-fuchsia.

"Thank you, Blind Mag!" She laughed again.

"It's just 'Mag', now" she pointed to her eyes, which gave a faint whirr as she captured an image of Pavi's expression.

"Okay, Just Mag, I will see you soon." With that, he scampered back down the aisle of the auditorium leaving Mag, still with a bemused smile, on the stage.


	3. Chapter 3

Mag glanced again at the clock, a puzzled expression on her face. They had been scheduled to meet twenty minutes ago. Pavi had never been late for a rehearsal, whether he was going to sing with her or not. Usually he was already waiting for her in the recital room, warming up with a few arpeggios well in advance of their agreed start time. She tapped the number for his wrist communicator into her own but was connected straight to the robotic tones of his voicemail. Mag frowned and set off towards Pavi's suite.

...

"Pavi? Paviche, are you in here?"

She heard a soft, choked sob from somewhere within the room, but she couldn't see Pavi. She glanced underneath his bed first then headed towards the ensuite bathroom. She paused next to his wardrobe as she heard the sniffle of a runny nose wiped on a sleeve. She knocked softly before pulling the door open. Hunched in a corner, knees drawn to his chest, was Pavi.

"What on Earth happened to you?" Mag knelt down next to him, almost climbing into the wardrobe herself. She gently pushed his chin upwards with her fingertips to view his face in the light. There was dried blood smudged under his swollen nose and a pale lilac bruise was beginning to bloom around his left eye, his right one already looked grey. "Did Luigi do this to you?" Pavi nodded and Mag sighed, frustrated. Siblings fighting was the natural order of things and she was used to seeing plenty of rough-housing between the the boys but five years made a world of difference between the physical strengths of a twelve year old and his elder brother. As she brushed away the tears under his right eye, some of the grey discolouration came away too, staining her thumb. She examined his face more closely. "Is this mascara?" Her tone was entirely curious, without judgement. Pavi did not detect this nuance and her words seemed to upset him more. He pulled his knees back up to his chest, buried his face in his hands and shook his head. "Hey, you don't need to be embarrassed, I just need to understand what happened." Mag popped into the bathroom and returned with a box of tissues. Pavi took one and blew his nose, indelicately, before dabbing at his eyes with another. More black smudges came away on the tissue as he did. He sighed shakily before he spoke.

"I was trying on some of Marni's makeup, she said that I could, I see ladies wearing it and I wanted to know how it worked, how it changes their faces. It can make them more beautiful or more frightening, it's like they can be different people. I just wanted to see what it felt like to wear it. I know that boys aren't supposed to. But I wanted to try." Mag smiled gently at him.

"Oh Pavi" she pulled him clumsily onto her lap. At twelve years old, he was only a few inches shorter than Mag and somewhat awkward in his rapidly growing limbs. Still, as he had done often as a younger child, he gladly hugged her close and buried his face into the curve of her shoulder, sobbing all the harder for her display of compassion.

"Then Luigi was there. He was really angry, I don't know why. he yelled at me and started hitting me, then he called me a faggot, and told me to go and get back in the closet. I don't know what that was supposed to mean, is he going to come and get me again?"

Mag cuddled Pavi tighter. "You poor thing, what he said is...it's a very horrible term of abuse used against gay men. It's never an acceptable word to repeat, even if you are in the middle of a fight. Luigi needs to know that his behaviour is out of line. I'm going to go straight to your father about this, just as soon as you've been checked over by a Gentern. You shouldn't have to put up with that from anybody, regardless of whether you're related." Mag wondered what, if anything, Rotti would do to discipline his eldest son. She lacked any real authority over the children but her position and her friendship with Marni meant that Rotti would usually at least listen to concerns that she raised.

"Mag, please don't tell my dad what I was doing. He wouldn't understand, and he might think I was...I mean, I'm not, I don't think I am. I like girls, a lot." Mag smiled at him.

"I won't say anything to your dad about what happened before the fight. And whether you like girls, or boys, or both really makes no difference. Plus, you're only twelve, you don't need to figure it out right away. But it is important that you remember that there is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to be. Everybody deserves to be treated with respect, no matter who they are attracted to. Although I guess it's your brother I should really be explaining that to."

Mag pulled away from him briefly to make a call to summon a Gentern to the room. She examined his face again. His nose looked sore but not broken and the bruising around his eye would take a few days to heal, but he didn't appear to be seriously hurt. She suspected that the Genterns wouldn't be able to do much more for him than administer some gentle painkillers and be a generally pleasing distraction. Pavi was a long way from adulthood but in the past few months she had noticed changes in his behaviour that hinted at his impending adolescence. His glances at the Genterns had become more lingering, when he had cause to be in physical contact, however innocent, with them he was prone to blushing and an awkwardness that had never been present when he was younger.

"I'm glad you're here. Thank you. I'm sorry I missed our rehearsal. I'll practice for twice as long before the next one."

"You know I like spending time with you, and I really don't want to see you hurting. Tell me if Luigi ever does anything like this again. You shouldn't be scared to stand up to him, but then again you shouldn't have to. Sibling rivalry is one thing, but brothers shouldn't be beating each other up like this. But don't worry, he's bigger than you now, but he won't be forever. You'll get him back one day." She gave him a wink and he smirked back at her. She stayed for a little while longer, chatting with him until a pair of Genterns arrived to take care of his wounds.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own any of the characters or IP associated with Repo! The Genetic Opera. It's all property of Zdunich/Smith/Bousman.

No Pavi in this one! But he'll be back soon enough...

They had met at their usual table in the secluded back corner of the VIP section of an upmarket hotel a few blocks from GeneCo towers. It was one of very few venues in the city that was scrupulous enough to never allow journalists or photographers within the building unless at the specific request of one of their guests and afforded a privacy that neither of them were able to achieve in public places unless they were disguised. Marni usually relished the attention of the press and Mag tolerated it, understanding the benefits of keeping a high public profile. Rotti was powerful enough that no publication would dare to be derogatory about his fiancée or spokeswoman. Today, however, the subject of their discussion warranted a privacy that few places could offer.

Mag had known for a few days that all was not right with Marni. Although her friend hadn't said anything specific, they had hardly seen each other in over a week and Marni had become quiet and secretive, almost paranoid in her behaviour. At her request, Marni had come to meet her to explain, over drinks, what was going on.

Through most of a bottle of wine and no small amount of tears, Marni had confessed that she had been having an affair with a young doctor who had recently been recruited to GeneCo's medical research division. Mag had met him briefly at the introductory dinner and drinks evening for the new intake and had noticed Marni lavishing far more attention on him than any of the other new staff, almost to the point of flirtation, but she had pushed her concerns to one side, assuming that if Marni had been attracted to anybody else, she would have had the sense not to overtly favour them in the presence of Rotti. Marni had started sleeping with him on a regular basis soon after that evening and in spite of her attempts to remain detached she had increasingly grown to care about Nathan Wallace.

Mag was amazed that Marni had managed to keep this concealed, both from her and from Rotti. He kept a phenomenal amount of data on all of his employees and surveillance was omnipresent in the staff areas of GeneCo.

Mag examined her friend for a long, silent moment as she considered what she had just heard. "This won't end well."

"I know, it sounds crazy, even foolish. But I didn't choose for this to happen and now I don't know what to do."

"Do you love him? Nathan, I mean?"

Marni bit her lip and looked down into her wineglass, her eyes brimming "I do. More than anything."

Mag sighed heavily "and what about Rotti?"

Marni shook her head "I don't know. I don't want to hurt him, but I don't think I love him any more. I did, once, but not now, not like I used to."

"Have you said anything to him yet?"

"I've extended the engagement. I told him that I always wanted a summer wedding. It's only bought me a few months but it's some time to decide what the hell to do now."

"You need to be prepared for him not taking this very well. He's not a man who gives up what he wants easily."

"I know that." Tears spilled down Marni's cheeks but she brushed them away furiously "this is all such a mess."

"What will you do? Where will you go? I mean, this is your home, our home." Marni's presence in GeneCo Towers had been a major factor in Mag's decision to relocate and work for Rotti in return for her sight. The prospect of being left there without her closest friend and ally was not an appealing one.

"Nathan lives about a mile East of here. He inherited his parents' estate a few years ago. It's huge and it's beautiful. We could be really happy there. And it's close, really close, you and I could see each other almost as much as we do now."

Mag sighed "It sounds like you've already thought this through, maybe even made your mind up. What do you want me to say? I'm not going to tell you that you've not done anything wrong, somebody is going to get very, very hurt because of you, whatever happens now. But you're my best friend and I will support you in any decision you need to make to be happy. Even though, on a selfish level, I would rather you stayed here with me." She smiled and took her friend's hand. "Whatever you do, I'm here for you and will back you up. You're right, you've made a huge damn mess and it's not going to be easy to put right, but it's not the end of the world."

Marni gave a weak smile and nodded. "I know. Shit, this is scary."

"But it's going to be OK, it just might take a while."

"Thank you, Mag, I really don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh please, you're a big girl, you don't need my blessing for every decision you make. But you know I've got your back. I always will."

Marni dried her eyes on her sleeve and sighed. "That's quite enough of that. Can we focus on getting drunk now, please?"

Mag smiled wickedly and gestured to the barman to bring over another bottle of Chianti.


	5. Chapter 5

OK, next chapter. This one's a quickie. It was fluffy. Fluff doesn't last very long in Sanitarium...

I know I said that this was going to be Mag/Pavi centric but as I wrote the next few chapters it started to turn more into a general prequel for more of the characters than just the two of them. Mag is still at the heart of it though.

I don't own any of the characters or IP

Nobody had been more surprised than Mag by how well Rotti had taken the news about Marni and Nathan's relationship. He had been livid to begin with, but transitioned quickly to resigned acceptance, even allowing both Marni and Nathan to keep their jobs at the company.

Things had happened quickly after Marni broke the news to her ex-fiance. Within a month Marni had married and moved in with Nathan. Rotti had become more withdrawn than Mag had ever known him to be. Whilst this in itself was understandable, Mag felt a slight unease on which she couldn't quite put her finger. It all seemed too easy, too convenient that he would so readily give up the woman he adored considering the power and means he had at his disposal. Her attempts to raise these concerns with Marni had been quickly written off as paranoia and excessive suspicion. Mag was reluctant to dismiss her fears so readily as her recently wedded friend but had pushed them to the back of her mind for the time being. Rotti's recent bout of apathy had made him far more lenient than usual about how often and how far she could travel without him present and she had been taking full advantage of this with frequent visits to Marni's new home.

One evening close to Christmas Mag arrived to find Marni already waiting for her in the entrance hall. Mag had barely reached the stoop before the front door was flung open by Marni, blurting "We're going to have a baby!" With a squeal of delight she pulled her best friend into a tight hug.

Caught off balance, Mag staggered slightly but steadied herself, holding Marni close and giving a joyful laugh. "Oh my goodness, that's wonderful!"

"Honey, I thought we agreed that we were going to tell her together..." Nathan wandered over to the women and Marni threw an arm around his neck, pulling him into a group hug. He smiled and kissed the cheek of his wife. "Have you asked her yet?" Marni shook her head.

"Asked me what?" Mag pulled away slightly. Marni grabbed Nathan's hand and grinned.

"Nate and I were wondering whether you would consider being our baby's godmother?"

Mag laughed "do you even need to ask? Of course I will, I'd be honoured!" She took Marni's free hand "I'm actually a little relieved that I can't cry right now, I'd be in floods." She looked her up and down "You look incredible, you're absolutely radiant! When is the baby due?"

"About another six and a half months, so it's still early, we haven't told anybody else yet, but you know I can't keep anything from you. We only found out for sure a month ago and it's been so hard not telling you until now."

"We really ought to have waited until she was twelve weeks gone, it's bad luck to tell people before then." Nathan glanced anxiously at Mag as Marni rolled her eyes.

"This superstitious nonsense coming from a so-called 'man of science.' And you're closer than any family either of us ever had, I want you to know and to be involved right from the start, if you want to be. Besides, with his level of paranoia, there's probably not going to be an opportunity for anything to go wrong that he hasn't already accounted for. By the time I realised my period was two days late he was already halfway through reading an encyclopaedia of gestational abnormalities. Some of the pictures in there are unbelievable, I'm going to have to show you some of the weirder ones."

Nathan sighed wearily at Marni's flippancy as Mag laughed "perhaps it would be better to save that until after dinner?"


	6. Chapter 6

I forget what the general convention is for "indicating the passage of time" between chapters. Starting it off with "SEVERAL MONTHS LATER" feels a bit cheesy.

Anyway, none of the characters or settings are mine. Only the words. The delicious words.

Marni had been bedridden for over a week, on Nathan's orders, but though she wouldn't admit it to Marni, Mag was relieved that he had put his foot down. Marni had started to feel unwell about a month earlier and had been gradually deteriorating since then. She was doing an admirable job of keeping up a brave front, but when she had started passing out at the most minor of exertions she had been argued into bed by her fretful husband. Mag and Nathan were all the more worried at the lack of a definite diagnosis for what was causing her illness. Marni was severely anaemic but neither Nathan nor his medical colleagues had been able to ascertain an underlying cause and Dr Wallace had taken to holing himself up in his lab for most of his waking hours experimenting with possible cures.

Mag had been spending as much time as she could get away from GeneCo Towers keeping Marni company. It frustrated her that she couldn't make any practical contribution to her recovery, but Marni was always cheered by her presence.

"Guess who?" Mag knocked softly before opening the door and climbing onto Marni's bed, hugging her gently. "How are you doing today?"

"Tired, sick, shitty." Marni gave a weak laugh "Christ, listen to me bitching, again, fucking self pity. I sound like a broken record. It's not that awful, really, I can cope with another couple of weeks of feeling like crap, as long as I know that she's going to be OK."

"...she?"

"She. I know we wanted to wait and for it to be a surprise, but I ran out of patience. We're having a girl. Shilo Magdalene."

"Oh Marni" Mag looked at her friend's face, pale and exhausted, but smiling blissfully. She kissed her on the cheek. "I can't wait to meet her. I'm sure she'll be as beautiful as you and as smart as her father."

"Better that than the other way around." Marni laughed, triggering a coughing fit, her whole body convulsing as she fought to catch her breath again. Feeling helpless, Mag offered a glass of water and rubbed her friend's back gently. "Ugh, dammit, I'm sorry you had to see that. Man that hurts, I'm so sick of being sick right now."

"Should I call Nathan?"

Marni cleared her throat and took a long sip of water "No, I'm fine, really. He's worried enough as it is. Besides, it's kind of a relief to have half an hour without him fussing over me. I don't want to sound ungrateful but if he's like this with me now, I'm really going to have to rein him in once the baby arrives. If I leave him to his own devices, the poor kid will be wrapped in cotton wool within seconds of being born. Oh, quick, check this out!" She grabbed Mag's hand and pressed it against her swollen belly "She's awake, can you feel that? I'm pretty sure that that's her feet but she's got so little space to move in there now it could be anything. She's been really fidgety for the last couple of days. She's probably as fed up of being stuck in there as I am of waiting for her to get here."

"Incredible" Mag said softly "just incredible."

"She's so lucky she's going to have you as her godmother. She's going to think you're the coolest person ever. I can see it now, you two hanging out backstage at your concerts, you letting her flirt with musicians, rail cocaine and get completely wasted before she's legal, Nathan freaking the hell out every time she's not home by seven p.m. You will take care of her, won't you?"

"Of course I will! And I'm not entirely sure what you think goes on backstage at my performances, but I can promise you now that there will be absolutely no getting wasted on my watch. Why would you need to ask all of this though? You're going to be right there with us, probably misbehaving even more than Shilo."

"I just...if anything happened to me, she would need you even more. If I wasn't around, she mustn't be without a strong woman in her life. I wouldn't ever want to not have you and I don't want my daughter to grow up without you either." She gripped Mag's hand tightly. "You're wonderful, and all three of us need you. Nathan would never admit it to your face but he thinks the absolute world of you. I know that I'm going to get better, but stuck in bed all day feeling like crap and not seeming to improve no matter what medicine he throws at me at the moment...its hard, sometimes, not to worry about what might happen if I never recovered, if I never get to be there for my baby girl. Fuck, I'm sorry." Letting out a sob that she had been fighting, Marni defiantly brushed away the first of the tears that had spilled over onto her cheeks. Mag grabbed a tissue and gently dried the rest as they emerged.

"Oh Marni don't be so silly, nothing's going to happen to you. You're going to get better, and you're going to have Shilo and I'm going to be there, always, for both of you. You mean everything to me, you know that. Don't make me even imagine a life without you in it. My Marni doesn't give in, to anything or anyone. This disease should have known better than to pick a fight with you, you know you can beat it. God, I hope Shilo doesn't inherit your stubbornness, It'll be an absolute nightmare for Nate with two of you to deal with." Marni gave an uneasy laugh.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I know. I had no idea how paranoid having a child would make me. I'm starting to sound like Nathan. She doesn't need two constantly terrified parents around her. Once I'm back on my feet with my baby in my arms, I'll stop worrying so damn much."

"I'm glad to hear that. Everything is going to be fine, you'll see."


	7. Chapter 7

The clock ticked over to midnight for the fourth time since Marni had died. Mag stared blankly at the line of zeroes. She allowed her thoughts to linger on the emptiness of their vacant centres and the void, the nothingness indicated by the digits. How she identified with them right now. She had not eaten or bathed since hearing the news. She couldn't remember whether she had slept at all, though she remembered being sedated on the first day. There were pills too, probably a Zydrate derivative, but she wasn't sure and didn't much care. All she knew was that they were the only thing that took her away from herself and from the agony for a few hours. If she did sleep, it was brought on by the drugs. Genterns brought meals to her three times a day and every time they were taken away, untouched, by the next shift. Rotti looked in on her once or twice a day. Usually he would stay for only a few minutes to get an update from whichever Gentern had most recently checked on her. On the second day he had stayed for a little longer, Mag wasn't sure of the exact duration of his visit, but they spoke for a while. He told her that all of her scheduled appearances had been cancelled for the coming month, that he had a bereavement counsellor on standby if she needed to talk and how sorry he was about what had happened. She thought it strange that he seemed so unaffected, as less than a year ago he had been planning to marry Marni, but even if it mattered, she didn't have the energy to try to raise it with him. All too soon he departed, and she was left alone again.

Where once there had been something, love, humour, friendship, hope, was nothing. As silence rang in her ears her mind raced with memories of Marni, all of them jumbled together, running so quickly they became incoherent and maddening. The one constant throughout all of them was the bright, vital presence of her best friend. In spite of being witness to her recently deteriorating health, Mag could not begin to reconcile Marni's death in her mind, it didn't seem possible for it to have happened to somebody so vibrant, so bright and so completely alive.

Mag tried not to think about the child who had been lost too. Thoughts of Marni alone manifested as a tightness in her chest, a constant pressure on her heart, as though the systems within her that should sustain her own life were rebelling, objecting to carrying on in the absence of her closest one. The idea of Shilo, that tiny person full of innocence and promise, her god-daughter whom she would never meet, made her stomach twist and churn in agonising spasms. If Marni's death seemed senseless and unjust, the loss of her baby was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Mag had attempted to watch some of the recordings of her final visits to Marni but seeing and hearing any of it outside of her mind's eye made her retch, a physical rejection of tangible reminders of what she had lost. Whilst she felt unable to control her thoughts, she had some power over her environment. This knowledge brought her little comfort.

She tried to muster sympathy for Nathan, knew that he would be feeling the loss more keenly than anybody else, but she could not displace her vitriolic antipathy towards him. Mag couldn't help but believe that had Marni never met the man she might still be alive. She would never have gotten pregnant with his child, might never have gotten sick and she would still be living, quite happily, at GeneCo, with her, where she belonged. The intensity of the growing hatred frightened her as it took hold and Mag prayed that it would not last. Nathan needed compassion and support now, not animosity.

Mag noticed that her palms felt damp. She examined with detached curiosity the red slicks of blood where her fists had been clenched so tightly that her nails had broken her skin. She wiped her hands haphazardly on the sheets and necked another couple of pills.

...

She awoke with a start as she noticed the figure sitting next to her bed. The intruder drew back from her slightly "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"Pavi. It's alright, you didn't wake me, just startled me. How long have you been there for?"

"About an hour. I didn't want to wake you up. Dad wouldn't let me come to see you before today, I just wanted to spend some time with you. The Genterns said you hadn't been sleeping very well." He shifted awkwardly. "Um, this is a really stupid question...but how are you?" Mag shook her head and looked away from him. Silence hung heavy in the room as Pavi looked her up and down, concerned. "What happened to your hands?" Mag glanced back at her palms, still smeared with traces of blood that had now dried into ugly brownish stains.

"That...it was an accident, I guess, it's not a big deal."

"It looks sore, should I go get a Gentern to-"

"No!" She cut him off. "It's okay, please don't. I'll go and clean them up." Mag hauled herself to the edge of the bed, requiring far more effort than she was expecting to pull herself to a seated position. Pavi swiftly moved to her side, sliding one arm around her waist and supporting her with his shoulder. They walked to the bathroom together. Pavi flipped down the lid of the toilet and Mag slumped down heavily onto it. He set about rinsing out a facecloth and rummaged in her bathroom cabinets until he found cotton wool balls and antiseptic solution. He knelt next to her and started to wipe away the worst of the dried blood from her palms.

Although she was grateful for his concern, Mag was abashed that a teenage boy was, at present, more capable of taking care of her than she was herself. "You shouldn't feel that you need to look after me. I'm a grown woman, it's ridiculous that I should need a child to-"

"I'm fifteen!"

"Sorry, young man, teenager, whichever you prefer. But I don't need to be babysat."

"You're allowed to need a little support right now and I know my dad isn't exactly the warm and cuddly type." He examined her hands to check he had cleaned them thoroughly. "And I...well, I'm sorry."

She looked at him, bemused, for a moment "Sorry? What for? Your father?"

"Heh, no, he's not really my fault. But I am sorry for what happened, and that I don't know what to say to you about it but I just wish I could make it better, or help you." He held a cotton ball doused in disinfectant close to her skin "This is going to sting."

Mag looked away and winced as he carefully wiped her palms, dried them and applied a layer of liquid bandage.

"There. No point sticking a band aid on there, it'll fall off. You should cut your nails. Or get a stress ball. Maybe both." Mag gave a brief, weak smile.

"Thank you. And don't worry that you don't know what to say. Neither do I. I don't think there is anything that anybody could say right now that might help." She met his eyes for the first time since she had woken up. "I've got nothing. I don't know what to do now, It's like I'm completely lost here, sometimes when I wake up there's a moment or two where I've forgotten she's gone but then, then I remember and it all comes back again. I don't know what to do without her and I've never needed her with me more than I do right now." She buried her face in her hands but quickly looked up again, exasperated. "I can't even cry because of these god-damned eyes. There's no release, there's no escape, I'm just stuck here, feeling like this, and I don't know if there's ever going to be an end to it." She was sobbing, or as close as she could without tears. Pavi wrapped her in his arms. Mag clung to him for comfort, trembling with frustrated semi-sobs.

She eventually pulled away from him. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with this from me, she was your friend too. You can't be finding this easy."

"I guess it hasn't really hit me the same way, I saw so much less of her over the past year, it's difficult to really believe that she's gone and not just...away somewhere else." Pavi cast his eyes down and fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt.

Mag walked cautiously to the sink to fetch a glass of water. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror then immediately wished she hadn't. Her immaculate, artificial eyes contrasted jarringly with the dark circles surrounding them, set against her sickly complexion the overall effect was eerie. She didn't recognise herself in the harrowed face looking back at her.

Mag joined Pavi on the cold marble of the floor, leaning back against the bathtub with her knees pulled to her chest. Pavi rested his head on her shoulder. "It gets easier. I know it isn't much help to hear that right now, but it does, in time."

Mag lay her head against his and sighed. "You're right, and far wiser than anybody your age should be. This feels so much harder without her here. When my parents died, she was what got me through. She could be flaky, and scatterbrained and maddening, but she was so much better at handling anything painful or emotional than I was. I would have just withdrawn completely, shut myself off from everything until I felt ready to be a part of the real world again, but Marni dragged me out of it. Gently, of course, but she supported me through the whole process of starting to live again."

"Do you think about your parents much?"

"Of course I do, but not as much as I did. And when I think of them now, its almost always with fond and happy memories. To begin with it was impossible to focus on anything but the pain of losing them, but, as you said, it got easier with time. The sense of loss never disappeared, but it got further away, less immediate, more manageable."

"So you didn't mind that you didn't hurt as much any more? I just...I realised when I heard about Marni that somewhere along the line I'd stopped thinking about my mother every day. I still remember her often and I miss her so, so much, but it doesn't hurt like it used to. I feel like it should though, I'm scared that if she knew she would I'd stopped caring about her. But I haven't, I couldn't and I never will."

"I know. You never stop caring, but you also can't spend your whole life in the shadow of your loss. It's not easy to come to terms with, at first I thought I was a horrible person if I caught myself thinking about something that wasn't my parents and smiling, or laughing. I couldn't believe that I could be enjoying myself in a world that they were no longer a part of. But you also have to think about it from their perspective. Your mother loved you, more than anything else. More than she could have imagined before she had you. Just as my parents loved me. And because of that, you have to remember that the best thing you could possibly do to pay tribute to her is be happy. If there is an afterlife anywhere, if some part of us does stick around after our bodies are gone, she knows how much you love her, miss her and how much you remember her. We don't have to mourn forever to do right by our lost loved ones." She took a long sip of water. "Wow, it's quite amazing how little it helps to know all of that right now." she gave a hollow, cynical laugh.

"I know I can never be the same as her, but is there anything Marni did to help you through that I could do for you now? Anything that I can do to make this easier?"

Mag shook her head. "Just being here is enough. It doesn't make me feel any less pathetic at pouring my heart out to you, but I'm glad I've got you right now."


	8. Chapter 8

_[Author's note] Changed the story rating up to an "M" for this one. There's a little bit of rather nasty gore, although considerably less swearing, which is surprising what with this being a Luigi-heavy chapter. It also seems to be getting less "Scenes from a Friendship" and more "General Repo! prequel. Oh well. I hope somebody is enjoying it![end Author's note]_

_...  
_

Marni's was the fourth funeral that Luigi had attended for a woman his father had loved, but only the third at which he understood the meaning of the day. His mother's funeral had been a far less grand affair, from what little he remembered of it. He had been two years old and the service was held in a backstreet chapel close to his father's dingy first offices, long before GeneCo was GeneCo and it was only a small surgical waste disposal startup.

Luigi couldn't recall much about his mother. Sometimes in dreams he could still hear a laugh that might have been hers. A certain perfume, occasionally recognised in a fleeting moment as he passed a stranger wearing it could evoke memories in him of comfort and warmth, of being held close and loved, being fed, content and carefree and listening to that gentle, lilting laughter. But her face always escaped his mind's eye. No matter how many photographs he studied, whenever he tried to conjure an image of his mother whilst she was alive it seemed beyond him, tantalisingly close yet eternally just out of reach.

It had been several years after her death, only when Luigi was old enough to research her name online that he had discovered exactly how she died. Not a day had passed since then that he wished he hadn't found out.

It had happened on a night like many others, Allegra had been home alone with Luigi whilst Rotti worked unsociably late hours. Though he didn't discuss the specifics of his work in great detail with this wife, Luigi had pieced the dates together and knew that the recovery and shelf life of organs from corpses were being investigated around that time. Rotti Largo, however, was not the only business owner making breakthroughs in this area. A rival company, with links to far shadier individuals, had gotten wind of Rotti's research and recognised both how similar it was to their own and the astronomical potential for profitability. What set that night apart from the many like it that had gone before was the corpse of the woman he loved awaiting Rotti upon his return home, all of the organs below her neck removed, her skin stitched back together with surgical precision. None of her body parts were ever found, except for her reproductive organs, which were delivered to Rotti anonymously on the day of her funeral, replete with the five-month-old foetus of their unborn daughter. Her killer was never caught, though every partner from the rival startup was arrested and questioned, all of them had a seemingly solid alibi.

Luigi had hardly any memories of his father from before that time but he remembered how obsessively he had immersed himself in his work in the aftermath. He also remembered that their clothes started to improve in quality, that there was suddenly fancier food in the house and he would get more presents on special occasions and when his father returned from business trips. The business was thriving and their lifestyle was improving to match.

He remembered meeting Arabella for the first time, how at only four years old he had burned with envy that his father had found the time to meet and fall in love with somebody when he couldn't make the time to read him a bedtime story. It was an envy that only increased when his baby brother was on the way and they moved to a better neighbourhood. His dad had started to be around more in the evenings and even managed to spend both days of the weekend at home more often than not but hardly any of it was spent with just Luigi. The time that might have been used to rebuild the bond that never quite mended after his mother's death was monopolised by the new baby and the happy marriage. Luigi begrudged Pavi every second spent with his two loving parents but was unable to express how neglected he was feeling through anything other than acting out, grabbing desperately for a shred of attention. He would lash out cruelly at his brother whenever he had the opportunity, taking away his favourite toys or loudly berating him whenever he cried. The more he was told off for it, the worse his abuse would get, escalating to a point at which he could not be left to play with his barely-crawling brother as he would smack or pinch the baby for the slightest perceived affront. Barely old enough to understand the emotion, Luigi was filled with hatred for which he had no other channel than a constant barrage of malicious thoughts, words and actions against his brother.

Exasperated with his behaviour and gently encouraged by his wife, Rotti eventually marched Luigi to a child psychiatrist. His improvement through therapy was gradual but steady and supported by his father making time to spend alone with him on a regular basis. Deep down, Luigi still resented his father for what he saw as trying to replace Allegra and in spite of the best efforts of Arabella, he never forged a completely comfortable relationship with her. As the family grew wealthier, her efforts to bond with him dwindled, replaced by ever grander gifts and entertainment. Whilst it could never be a substitute for the love of a mother, Luigi enjoyed the indulgences. His hostility towards his brother gradually diminished to what could be considered a normal level of sibling rivalry and his violent outbursts were reserved for whenever he could get his hands on bugs or vermin caught around the dumpsters near his father's offices.

If any doubt had remained in Luigi's mind about whether Rotti had moved on too quickly or forgotten about his mother, they were put paid to on the day the deeds were signed to the land on which GeneCo Towers now stood. That night a flash fire swept through a warehouse in a heavily industrialised area downtown, the headquarters of the organisation that had rivalled GeneCo in its early days. The company was having an AGM that evening and all twelve members of the board, most of them from the same family, were killed in the blaze.

He never heard his father explicitly admit to organising the crime, but it was evident from his reaction, the obsessive attention to the news coverage of the event and the trace of a smirk that crept into the corners of his mouth as he read the obituaries of the men who had lost their lives. It was the first time that Luigi saw the amount of power Rotti had at his disposal, the lengths he was prepared to go to for vengeance and the apparent lack of remorse or consequences at being responsible for ending human lives. As a child, Luigi was somewhat frightened by this but he gradually came to respect his father more for it and a part of him, even at the age of eight, eagerly dreamt of the day he too could get away with murder.

GeneCo's success grew at a phenomenal rate set against the backdrop of a global epidemic of organ failures. For Rotti this meant an escalating commitment was required by his burgeoning business, once again cutting down on the amount of time he was able to spend with his family. Increasingly bored and frustrated with her husband's lengthy absences, Arabella underwent regular surgeries in an attempt to make herself more attractive, convinced that if she were only beautiful enough, Rotti would have more time for her. Her efforts were in vain. After her third rhinoplasty she misread the dosage of her aftercare night-formula Zydrate. As she passed out in a numb, blue haze, alone after midnight in her marital bed as her husband worked until the small hours, she went into respiratory failure and never awoke.

Pavi had been a mama's boy through and through, even with the attentive nannies and Genterns on hand round the clock it was only ever his mother who could properly placate him. Losing her destroyed the bright, carefree child he had been previously. Pavi became anxious and withdrawn in the aftermath of her death. To begin with, Rotti took a fortnight away from work to spend with his boys as they adjusted to their new circumstances but his eventual return to business as usual at GeneCo left Paviche feeling even more lost than before. He would lie awake until the early hours of the morning weeping quietly for his mother and when he was able to sleep, he frequently wet the bed. Unsure of what else to do that might help, Luigi took to creeping into his little brother's room at night and lying next to him, hugging him, sometimes whispering gentle reminders that he should be brave and make his mother proud of how strong he could be. They were things he remembered that people had said to him following his own mother's death. Though their intent was sincere, Luigi thought the words sounded just as empty when he used him as they had when directed at him by acquaintances who were unsure of how to approach a bereaved child.

Arabella's death had the unexpected side effect of bringing the brothers closer than they had ever been before. As he watched Pavi go through his devastating loss, Luigi recalled with humility how he had once begrudged his little brother the love and attention of two parents. Luigi felt a tiny shred of relief that he had been too young to be fully aware of what was happening when his own mother had passed away. He was upset to say goodbye to Arabella, but his sadness paled in comparison with his heartbroken brother.

Carmela's mother had not been around for long enough for either of Rotti's sons to get to know her well enough for her to assume the role of a mother figure in their lives. Rotti had met her a year and a half after Arabella had been laid to rest and by the second anniversary of the funeral, Carlotta was pregnant and living with the family. A supermodel on the cusp of her mid thirties, whose career had begun to wane, she had the air of a gold digger about her. Neither Luigi nor Pavi had ever trusted her. Although Pavi had eventually started to come to terms with the loss of his mother, he was not prepared to let somebody new attempt to fill the void in his life. The brothers' unwillingness to connect with her did not faze Carlotta, who had little interest in playing an actively maternal role.

The press had gone wild for the new Mrs Largo, not least due to her eerie resemblance to Luigi's mother, and she had, at first, embraced the attention with open arms. That changed swiftly as stories of her unfaithfulness began to surface. They only ever got as far as the gutter press before being quickly and decisively shut down with injunction after injunction care of the GeneCo petty cash fund but the purchased silence did nothing to reconcile the relationship between her and Rotti. By the time of her death, attributed to "sudden and unexpected" complications during Carmela's birth, she made headlines only as the "estranged wife of GeneCo owner Rotti Largo."


	9. Chapter 9

Mag's usual begrudging tolerance of Rotti's public tactility with her had made a concession to gratitude for the arm around her waist as they approached the chapel. She froze for a second when she saw Nathan skulking away from the main crowd of mourners. Her face set into a glower.

"You!" Shaking Rotti away from her, Mag marched ferociously over to the widower and slapped him hard on the cheek. "If it wasn't for you she'd still be alive!" Nathan made no attempt to resist or fight back. Mag's screams rose above the hushed throngs of mourners and press, all of whom were staring, aghast and fascinated in equal measure, at the most beloved singer on the planet tearing into the bereaved doctor, nobody daring to step in, the silence of the crowd punctuated morbidly by the frenzied clicking of paparazzi cameras. "What did you do? How could you let this happen? She should still be here, she should still be with us, still with me!" Nathan's face remained blank and impassive throughout, he was almost catatonic save for the occasional wince as she hit him, her blows strengthened with fury, grief and the pent up frustration of tears she could not shed. In spite of the sobs that had wracked her body for days, Mag's technologically perfect eyes could not weep for the friend she had lost. He remained stoically silent as Mag ranted at him "You could have stopped this, why didn't you get more help for her? What do you have to say for yourself? Answer me, you coward, you bastard, you monster, you...you...murderer!" Rotti finally intervened, although not until Mag had landed a few slaps that were loud enough to echo through the graveyard. Placing himself between Mag and Nathan, he managed to slip his arms around the distraught woman.

"Magdalene, this is not the time to make a scene, Marni wouldn't have wanted to see you like this." She struggled viciously against him but he was strong enough to restrain her as he spoke softly to her. "Mag, he loved her too. Remember that." Rotti stared pointedly at Nathan as he added "But sometimes love just isn't enough to save somebody."

Nathan cautiously took a step towards them "Mag, please, I never meant for-"

"I think" Rotti interrupted "it's for the best that you leave Blind Mag alone. You've done more than enough." His words dripped with malice.

Aware of every one of of the hundreds of pairs of eyes on him, Nathan hastily retreated from the graveyard, every step of his short walk home documented by the least scrupulous of the gathered press.

Rotti's offspring had arrived in time to witness the fight. Carmela giggled and pointed to where her father was standing "Look! Blind Maggie's gone crazy!"

Pavi glared at his little sister "Shut up, you little brat!"

His snapping was met with a cuff around the ear from his brother "Don't talk to her that way you asshole, she's just a kid, she doesn't understand! Jesus, what the fuck do you want from her?"

Pavi looked down at the confused face of his youngest sibling, feeling instantly remorseful. His cheeks flushed scarlet with guilt as he crouched to her height to apologise. "I'm sorry I yelled at you sweetie." He paused to try to compose himself before continuing "But you shouldn't laugh at people today. We are here to say goodbye to Marni. Mag was her best friend, so it's especially sad for her. Remember how you felt when Luigi ripped up Captain Snuggles because he mistook him for my teddy?" The little girl's angelic face changed to a expression of grief. "I know it's hard..." Pavi trailed off to clear his throat, blinking fiercely. "But that...that's how the people here feel today..." he hurriedly brushed away his tears with the back of his hand "And we need you to be a really good girl, just for a little while, until we're done in church. Can you do that, just for today?"

"Oh come on, don't you start fuckin' crying too." Luigi rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth before patting his brother roughly on the shoulder "Come on, man the hell up. I know you two were pretty close, we're all gonna miss her. And Mag? She'll be fine. Maybe not right away, but she's a tough bitch behind all that opera crap, give it time and you two will be back to braiding each others hair and comparing training bras or whatever the fuck you do when the men are working."

Luigi felt a tug on his hand and he looked down to see his sister, grinning devilishly up at him as she proudly proclaimed "Fuck!" Pavi stifled a chuckle. An increasingly evident side effect of Carmela being inseparable from her eldest brother was her vocabulary, which was considerably more colourful than that of most children her age. Luigi picked up his sister and held her close to gently scold her.

"Hey, missy, you've been told before, you're not to use that word, capiche? Not til you're sixteen, after that you can say whatever the hell you want. But no more f-words outta you til then, right?"

"...right. I guess." Carmela pouted. Luigi responded by offering her his little finger.

"Pinky swear?"

The little girl smiled and nodded "Pinky swear!"

"Alright. We got ourselves a deal." He placed her gently back on the ground, flicking one of her silky pigtails affectionately. The crowd outside the entrance to the church were making their way inside and the three siblings began to head over to them. Whilst they were still out of earshot, Pavi smirked and cast a sideways glance at his brother.

"Since when do you pinky swear on anything?"

Luigi glowered straight ahead. "You saw nothing. Mention that to anyone again, including me, and I will fucking cut you."


End file.
